First a confession, amongst all of the drinking and general jollity and the candle light I very nearly poisoned my lovely guests by not cooking the chicken all the way through.
Let this be a lesson to you … or two in fact:
Firstly don’t blindly believe what recipes say even when they are from a smiling Australian like Bill Granger… always check.
Secondly barbecues can be lethal when it comes to chicken.
Like all of Bills recipes this is very easy and I think its pretty tasty with lots of clever little touches. I have adapted the couscous slightly .. he uses peas …I have added the toms and the pomegranate seeds.
Overall the dish has a very nice summery Spanish vibe to it
Ingredients
1 x 1.5kg chicken (you could do this with chicken pieces if you prefer)
Marinade
4 garlic cloves roughly chopped
1 red chilli finely chopped
1 tsp coriander seeds
Sea salt
125ml extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp orange juice (freshly squeezed)
Freshly ground black pepper
Salbtixada Sauce pictured above
3 ripe tomatoes
1 roasted red pepper peeled and diced
30g blanched almonds toasted and roughly chopped
½ tsp chilli flakes
½ tsp paprika
3 garlic cloves crushed
1tsp finely grated lemon zest
2tbsp flat leaf parsley chopped
1tbsp sherry vinegar
125ml extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Cous Cous red pepper, cherry tomato and Olive Salad
225g cous cous
375ml chicken stock
Pinch saffron threads
8 cherry tomatoes - seeds squeezed out and chopped into 4
1 red pepper, cored, deseeded and diced
2 tablespoons of pomegranate seeds
100g green olives pitted and chopped
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp orange juice
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
Salt and pepper
2 handfuls flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Chicken
Remove the backbone from the chicken by cutting either side of the bone. Flatten out with the palm of your hand, then slash the chicken in a few places on each side. Place in a dish, cover and set aside in the fridge.
For the marinade, pound the garlic, chilli, coriander seeds and 1 tsp salt to a paste.
Transfer to a bowl and heat the olive oil in a small pan, then pour over the paste.
Add the sherry vinegar and lime and orange juices and whisk to combine. Season with pepper.
Pour half over the chicken and marinade in the fridge for 1 hour. (save the rest for your next bbq)
Heat a barbecue to a high heat. Place the chicken cut-side down on the rack, close the lid and cook for 30 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. (or cook, skin-side up in oven at 220c for 30 mins)
Serve with the salbitxada sauce and cous cous.
Salbtixada Sauce
Halve, core, deseed and finely dice the tomatoes.
Place in a bowl with all the other ingredients.
Heat the olive oil in a pan and pour over the tomato mixture.
Pulse to a chunky texture in a food processor if you like.
This will last in a fridge for a couple of days.
Cous Cous Pepper tomato and Olive Salad
Put the cous cous in a large heat proof bowl.
Bring the stock and saffron to the boil in a pan, pour over the cous cous, cover and leave to stand for 5 minutes.
Make a dressing from the oil, lemon juice, orange juice and vinegar.
Fluff up the cous cous with a fork and stir through the red pepper, tomatoes and olives.
Add the dressing stir through and leave for 30 mins.
Season stir through the parsley and serve
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